Biodiesel synthesis using waste cooking oil via transesterification over heterogeneous inorganic perovskites catalysts: a study of co-solvent effect and surface thermodynamics

Herein we report on the transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO) to biodiesel as an alternative route to the attainment of green biodiesel over LaMoO3 catalyst. Preliminary results suggest that hexane, as a solvent and co-solvent plays a significant role in enhancing the solubility of the reacting species and elevating the triglycerides transesterification with methanol to fatty acid-methyl esters (FAME). At the same reaction condition, the addition of hexane as a co-solvent enhances the triglyceride’s conversion to 88.7%. Furthermore, the thermodynamic interpretation of the production of FAME revealed that the transesterification of waste cooking oil is governed by the surface thermodynamics near the methanol boiling point.